Organization for feeding heavy sheets, plates, and the like onto a conveyer



y 2, 1953 w M CORBITT ETAL 2,638,234

ORGANIZATION FOR FEEDING HEAVY SHEETS, PLATES, AND THE LIKE ON TO A CONVEYER Filed Sept. 8, 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS. Marya l9. Caravrr RTTORNITYS- May 12, 195 3 F iled Sept. 8, 1949 W. M. CORBITT ETAL ORGANIZATION FOR FEEDING HEAVY SHEETS, PLATES, AND THE LIKE ON TO A CONVEYER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORJL Mu. 44 11 It (6 7 Y ""Ywar (I ll'mvwa.

ATTORNEYS- Patented May 12, 1953 ORGANIZATION FOR FEEDING HEAVY SHEETS, PLATES, AND THE LIKE ONTO A CONVEYER Willard M. Corbitt and Elmer C. Wenning, Ashland, Ky., assignors to Armco Steel Corporation, Middletown, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application September 8, 1949, Serial N 0. 114,514

This is a continuation-in-part of our copending application of the same title, Serial No. 19,536, filed April 6, 1948, and now abandoned.

This invention relates to an organization for feeding heavy sheets, plates and the like on to a conveyor. It is particularly useful in connection with the so-called shear lines in steel mills or the like. An exemplary shear line will comprise a conveyor upon which the sheets or plates are placed and which feeds them successively to a roller leveler parallel to a skew table and to one or more of a break-down shear, a side shear, double end cut shear, multiple shear gauge, reject table and piling machine. Where relatively light thin sheets are being handled the problem of removing them from a stack onto a conveyor to start them into the shear line is not a diificult one, but when heavy sheets or plates are being handled the problem becomes very severe. From about 16 gauge on up and with plates varying in length from 80 inches to 300 inches and in width from 30 inches to 60 inches, it often happens that a pile of plates will comprise individual plates weighing as much as 1,000 pounds.

In the past unskilled labor has been employed to lift the individual heavy sheets or plates from a pile on a loading table or the like, on to a traveling conveyor which then conducts the sheets or plates to one or more of the apparatuses in the shear line.

In most steel plants a loading table is provided on each side of the conveyor and sheets or plates may be loaded alternately from one side and the other, and in the past it has been found to require two or more men to handle the plates on each side of the conveyor. This work is dangerous to personnel and is, of course, very unpleasant work.

With the foregoing considerations in mind it is an object of Our invention to provide an organization whereby one man is able to perform the operation of loading sheets or plates from a load table on to a conveyor with a minimum of effort and with greater speed.

It is another object of our invention to provide such an organization by means of which the work may be done more rapidly, so that production can be increased, with a consequent saving in costs.

Further objects of our invention include the provision of such an organization which is relatively simple in construction and which is very flexible so that a wide variety of sizes of sheets and plates can be handled.

This and other objects of our invention which 6 Claims. (c1. 214-1) we shall describe hereinafter in more detail, or which will be apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading these specifications, we accomplish by that certain construction and arrangement of parts of which we shall now describe an exemplary embodiment.

Reference is made to the drawings forming a part hereof and in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a typical organization according to our invention.

Figure 2 is an end elevational view of the same.

Figure 3 is an elevational view of one of the jacking means on a greatly enlarged scale.

Figure 4 is a plan View of the same.

Figure 5 is an end elevational view on a greatly enlarged scale of one of the tapered roller housmas.

Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view of the same taken on the line 6-6 of Figure 5.

Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line l'i of Figure 6.

In the figures, and particularly in Figure l, the start of the shear line is indicated generally at ID. A lead-in conveyor of conventional form is indicated at H and is driven by an electric gear motor as at ii. We have shown on each. side of the lead-in conveyor H a loading table It upon which stacks of sheets orplates M are placed and from which individual sheets or plates are moved, onto the conveyor H as indicated at i5.

Between each loading table I3 and the conveyor II we have provided a tapered roller indicated generally at it. These rollers are mounted with their axis substantially parallel. tothe direction of movement of the conveyor i l and with their larger ends in the direction of motion of the conveyor. The taper of these rollers is not critical, but it should be such that when a sheet or plate is being moved from a loading table across thetapered roller, as indicated in broken lines at 15c, the sheet or plate will be contacted by the roller intermediate its length. The rollers 16 are driven by means of gear motors l2 in such a direction that their upper surfaces are moving inwardly toward the conveyor II. In other words, as seen in Figure 2 the left hand roller i6 is rotating clockwise and the right hand roller I0 is rotating counterclockwise. In actual practice we have found that the peripheral speed of the rollers I6 should be about feet per minute. The conveyor I l in normal practice travels about feet per minute.

In order that this organization be capable of handling sheets and plates of various sizes, and stacks of various heights, provision has been nuts 2! which engage the lead screws 22. There are preferably two such leadscrews, one toward each end of the organizatiomyand-thesescrews are provided with oppositely threaded portion-s one of which engages a nut 2| in one housing l8, and the other of which engagsarnntfll in the other housing It. Thusgvzhen BISSCJZBW'JQQ directions; that is, either eachother or away from each other. Each o'f'the screws carries at one end a sprocket 23 and these sprockets are connected by a chain 24. One of the screws '22 s cenven e tlyip vided wi h ah ml-wh Thus, when the hand-wheel .25 is turnedboth screws 22 :arerotated and in this way the .rollers .learemounted .in parallelism whilebeingmoved toward or away .fromeach other. 'iifhenuts 32 are provided with bosses 26 which arearranged to .ride in the slots 2-.1 :so asto takecare -.'.of the vertical displacement resulting, from the slight arcua-te moyement .of the -housi-ng when it is rocked.

:lvieans are also provided tor adjustin the rollers is vertically, :asa-bestseen Figure 6. The rollers H5 arejournaled in Joear-ings .25 and the journals, are supported in the "column-s29.

Secured-Goths columns 7 2e are the-nuts it which ess th scr ws 31.. fllhus. when the screws 3| are rotated the nuts 30 riding up on the screws arrywiththem qcolumns izZaran-d lthej ournals 28. The columns flame-y be connected by a bracing member 32,. Thescrewsd-l. are i-enrnaled as indicated at 33 and carryithexbe el gears M.- The, :bevel gears mesh with ;--.the .bevel ipini'ons .35 mounted Mlfihfifihflrfii which isiiournaled as at 1. .IDhe-shaft shear-mes .ia. sprocket .58

which-,isr-driven by ache-in e9 .from the'sprocket '40 on the .shaitlof the. gear motor ill. in this way, thelrollers slit may be raised .or floweredas requiredby actuation nofJthe :inotcr M. in one direction lorethe. .other. Thegear :mot'or flatter driving the miller r. I 8 issmounted 011 .a .iplaidorin 42 which issecnred toiaiportieniof .the structure which rises .withgthe. roller soithatithe relationship between theigearnnoter 1'2 and the, roller i-Biis motachangedljby the lvemical edtusment.

.It will .be. noted zthatltherollers JGJZEI'fl'JDI'DYid3d with .the extensions 116a, l fiband Mic. ".Th'e purpose rot-these extensions is topreventrscratches or blemishes sonthe sheet, particularly when handling 'l-ig-ht -=gauge --materi al, where the sag "is on a relatively sharp bend; Insuoh case, the edges of the s-h-eet' could' drag'a'cross the bearings il s-or across the sprocket which drives the tapered roller "HS, producing objectionable :deroots in the sheet. In Figure "6, the extensions I'Gwand 16b protect the sheet from the sprocket, while "the extensions 16b andl'tc "together. with the roller '16 itself, iprote'cfthe sheet from the bearings28.

'The purpose D'fmaking the rollers 16 vertically adjustable is "to facilitate-the loading of a plate or sheet from a loading tablewon to the conveyor 1 I, and preferably the. rollers {15 .aremaintained in suchrelation withlthestack on .theiloading tail-3191 11:513 the plane offthe...topsheetlorplatepf '4 the stack intersects the upper surface of the roll intermediate its ends.

The purpose of lateral adjustability of the roller I6 is to permit different widths of sheets or plates to be handled. For example, if Wider sheets are to be handled the rolls it must be moved apart, while with narrower sheets these rolls may be moved closely together. It will be observed that each of the housings I8 is provided with a butt plate 43 on the conveyor side of "the roll. This is to assist in the alignment of :sheets or plates "moved on to the conveyor from "the opposite side.

:To facilitate the moving of a heavy sheet or plate-we have .provided jacking devices such as 'are show-n in detail in Figures 3 and e. We have showna column it having a bracket 35 on which 'is supported a pneumatic cylinder 48 Within which..moves a piston 47 having a rod t8. While we have shown a pneumatic arrangement, it will be clear that .this .arrangementcould alsobehydraulic or of any other desired construction. A pulley 29 is secured to the end of the piston-rod All and-a pulley 553 is provided at the top-of the column Mi. Pulleys 5i and are securedto the base, as is also a reel 53 which is preferably provided with a pawl .54 engaging in a notch Elite prevent rotation. A cable 56 is threaded from the .reel 53 under the pulley 5., over the pulley 39, under the pulley E2, and over the pulley 513. .A hook: t! is suitably secured to the end of the cable es and a retrieve cord 5.8 is also secured to the hook 57. The cylinderd ll is providedwi-th the usual fluid line 5%). It will be clear that fluid is admitted to the cylinder ltthrough the line 59, the piston l! will be raised, carrying with it the pulley &9. Since the reel'lrs cannot-rotate because of the arrangement at 5 4 and 55, :the hook l5! be subject to a tensile force.

In use, .as :shown in Figure 2, the hook .5 1 is inserted under the top sheet or plate to be loaded by use .of a pinch bar or .the .-lilre .so that when the fluid is supplied to the cylinder iii; the top sheet or plate from the right-hand stack in :Figure 2 is swung to the left to the-position approximatelyshown at IS in Figure 1. As this sheet .or plate is drawn on to the tapered roller Ill the taperedroller picks the forward end of the sheet up and .swings it inward toward the conveyor. Since the peripheral speed :at .the forward end of the roller it is greater because of the larger diameter, the sheet or plate will be substantially straightened out longitudinally of the conveyor as .it is dropped on to the conveyor. Theoperator holdson .to the retrieve cording .so thathe canretrieve the hook at-the end of theoperation. The operator will have conveniently within. reach a foot switch or the like to control the admission of fluid'to the cylinder 15 and willalso have-com venientlyat .hand controls for the adjustment of the rollsl t vertically and laterally.

With this organization it is possible for two men to operate from two staclrsalterna-tely, or, if desired, one man may operate from one stack and when hehas finished with that he may-cross over and operate from the others-ids in the same manner. His work is not only simplified, but rendered .much less strenuous than heretofore.

While we have shown an organization with loading table on .both' sides of the conveyor, :and with two jacking devices, it willbe clearthat the benefits of the invention may be obtained with only one loading table on one side of the iCOIlf' veyor and one taperedroller-between the (loadns ta lee the o yo a d-:one jac n idevice at the opposite side of the conveyor. It will also be clear that numerous other jacking devices of known form could be substituted for the ones shown, and that these have thus been shown by way of example only. It will also be understood that in the case of lighter sheets the use of the jacking devices may be unnecessary.

Having now fully described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: l

1. A feeding organization for metal sheets, plates and the like, comprising in combination a conveyor, a loading table beside said conveyor, a tapered roller between said conveyor and said table, said roller being disposed with its axis parallel to said conveyor and with its larger end in the direction of movement of said conveyor, means for driving said roller with its surface moving toward said conveyor, and a jacking device located at the end of said organization corresponding to the smaller end of said roller on the opposite side of said conveyor from said 1oading table, said jacking device comprising means for engaging an edge of a sheet, plate, and the like, and means for applying a tensile force to said engaging means, to shift an end of a sheet, plate, or the like from said table in the direction of said conveyor.

2. An organization according to claim 1, in which said jacking device comprises a fluid cylinder having a piston therein, and a cable connecting said piston and engaging means.

3. A feeding organization for metal sheets, plates and the like, comprising in combination a conveyor, a loading table beside said conveyor, and a tapered roller between said conveyor and said table, said roller being disposed with its axes parallel to said conveyor and with its larger end in the direction of movement of said conveyor, and means for driving said roller with its upper surface moving toward said conveyor, said roller being provided with hearing means and extensions of said roller being provided in connection with said bearing means and said driving means to protect sheets, plates or the like moving over said roller from said bearing and driving means.

4. A feeding organization for metal sheets, plates and the like, comprising in combination a conveyor, a loading table on each side of said conveyor, a tapered roller between said conveyor and each of said loading tables, said rollers being disposed with their axes parallel to said conveyor and with their larger ends in the direction of movement of said conveyor, means for driving said rollers with their upper surfaces moving toward said conveyor, and jacking devices located at the end of said organization corresponding to the smaller end of said rollers, on the opposite side of said conveyor with respect to the loading table with which they coact respectively, said jacking devices comprising means for engaging an end of a sheet, plate and the like, and means for applying a tensile force to said engaging means, to shift an end of a sheet, plate, or the like from said table in the direction of said conveyor.

5. An organization according to claim 4. in which each of said jacking devices comprises a fluid cylinder having a piston therein, and a cable connecting said piston and the respective engaging means.

6. A feeding organization for metal sheets, plates and the like, comprising in combination a conveyor, 2. loading table on each side of said conveyor, and a tapered roller between said conveyor and each of said loading tables, said rollers being disposed with their axes parallel to said conveyor and with their larger ends in the direction of movement of said conveyor, and means for driving said rollers with their upper surfaces moving toward said conveyor, said rollers being provided with hearing means and said rollers having extensions to protect sheets, plates or the like passing over said rollers from said bearing means and driving means.

WILLARD M. CORBITT. ELMER C. WENNING.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 445,290 Treat Jan. 27,1891 504,932 Mook Sept. 12, 1893 1,105,256 Casto July 28, 1914 1,723,505 Goodfellow Aug. 6, 1929 1,844,385 Goldsmith Feb. 9, 1932 1,890,250 Evans et a1 Dec. 6, 1932 1,909,481 Allen May 16, 1933 2,567,335 Hebert Sept. 11, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 517,237 France June 16, 1920 

